LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Churchgoers returned to Maryville Baptist Church Sunday in Bullitt County, for in-person services.
Supporters of the church have declared a small victory after a federal court ruled in favor of the church's injunction to hold drive-in services.
Gov. Andy Beshear said during his press briefing Sunday that he's "fine" with the court's decision.
"I think it's a good decision in that it says exactly what we are. No in person but you can do drive-in services," he said.
The US Sixth Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction for Maryville Baptist Church prohibiting Gov. Andy Beshear or any other state officials from banning drive-in services, as long as the church and its congregants abide by health safety guidelines.
Maryville Baptist Church and its pastor, Dr. Jack Roberts, sued Beshear in April after Kentucky State Police gave notices to those who attended Easter mass. The notices cited the churchgoers as violating criminal law.
The ruling from the Cincinnati court panel comes days after attorney general Daniel Cameron joined the lawsuit against Beshear.
"What Andy Beshear is doing as the governor, he's meddling. He's trying to micromanage the ecclesiastical affairs of the church and that is not his jurisdiction," Tony, a Sunday churchgoer at Maryville Baptist said.
Beshear said his orders prohibiting mass gatherings never said drive-in services couldn't take place.
"The church that filed the lawsuit somehow convinced the court we somehow hadn't allowed them to do a drive-up service. That is not true. No one who came to a drive up service that didn't get out of their car was cited or got a letter or should have got a letter," Beshear said.
Having only 24 hours with the case, the court did not rule on Beshear's ban of in-person services.
Tony, from Northern Kentucky, said that's a shame.
"These cases may go all the way up to the Supreme Court and I am very confident that the courts will see and rule as they have in the past that there has to be strict scrutiny if you're going to prohibit freedom of religion," he said. "To have a complete overreach and overall ban is not constitutional and I think the court system will show that."
But the court did write in its ruling, "We realize that this falls short of everything the Church has asked for and much of what it wants."
"If the Sixth Circuit has said 'okay no in person, but drive in' and they say 'hey we won,' are they going to abide by it?" Beshear said.
The governor's orders for a gradual re-opening allow for places of worship to begin holding in-person services Wednesday May 20th.
They will still have to operate at a reduced capacity after re-opening.
RELATED: Federal judge denies Kentucky church's restraining order request against ban of mass gatherings
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.